Archives for August 2011

Oh my god you guys. How is it possible to have so much fun with 3,000 strangers?

Really I think I can sum up this trip in three words:

Exhausted

Inspired

Proud

There was a lot of emotion for me over this trip. I was sad about being away from home for so long. It was the longest and furthest away I had ever been from Izzy. I missed her before I ever set foot on the plane. Then somewhere between getting through security and getting off the plane in San Diego, I lost my license.

**insert meltdown in hotel room**

After much freaking out it was decided that I would have my husband Fed-ex my passport overnight to me. Phew! I caused a small delay on the way home because it listed my maiden name and not my married, hyphenated name. So my ticket was different than my ID and I practically had to make out with the TSA agent to get him to let me through security without get molested or receiving low level doses of radiation. However, once I got to the security line and saw that the gentleman doing security checks looked like Eric Dane (aka McSteamy) I was a little remiss about worming my way out of an extra security check.

Ok, enough of that. Let’s talk about the food situation at BlogHer’11. I will say this: I did okay. Not great, not bad, but okay. I don’t know what I weigh yet cuz….well, I haven’t pooped in like four days. Travel messes me up. I decided that would be unfair to make me weigh in today when I am hauling around a crap boulder. So check back with me tomorrow and I will give you the scoop that’s not about my poop.

I’m going to guess though that I maintained. I had some treats and some drinks but I was pretty modest about indulging…ok…maybe not on the drinks. But come on, it was my birthday. Look, I’m not going to bullshit you. This trip was HARD. Three thousand women and none of them dieting. And I’d say I was probably on plan about 60/40 ish. The first two days were super easy for me. Thursday was a travel day and one party after my arrival.

Aw. look at me faking a smile and being all mopey pants. But rememberI had just lost my ID and was worried I wasn’t getting home on Sunday.

Oh but wait! It’s my birthday. A mini cupcake andsome blue concoction and I can be persuaded to smile for real.

Have I ever mentioned that Twizzlers are one of my favorite candies? And every damn time we walkedpassed the Twizzler bridge, there was some chick there trying to shove Twizzlers down my throat. I saidno every time. (duh, I had to save my carbs for a margarita or two.)

Tip: Ask for clear tequila. It cuts down on the carbsbut not the fun.

Unfortunately the photos I don’t have of me are me doing things like:

Eating my lean and green for lunch on Saturday.

Having Medifast bars for snacks in between sessions.

Walking 800 mother humpin miles to get everywhere.

Walking a 5k (that I don’t think was really quite 5k) Friday morning.

Y’all I had to skip the workout with Bob on Saturday morning. Between jet lag, the walking and the exhausting schedule, I was hurting. I think I would have only gotten injured if I had pushed myself to go to his workout. But I still snapped this pic of him from the Meet and Greet:

I don’t know who that lady is. And I didn’t get to meet Bob. I didn’t feel worthy since I punked out on the workout. But I did meet:

Wendi McLendon-Covey!!!! From Reno 911. Y’all she is soooootiny and nice as can be. I love her to bits and think she’s hilarious.

Anyway, back to all the healthy things I did:

I danced not just my ass but someone else’s ass off at SparkleCorn

This is my view from the stage where I spent the better part of three hoursshakin’ what my momma and french fries gave me.

If you all ever doubt anything I tell you about Medifast, ask her, she will back up it’s awesomeness.

Silly me, I didn’t take pics from our Room o’ Swag event. But let me tell you, it was epic. We talked to so many folks that had a genuine interest in Medifast. I thought we might run out of samples before all our guests had come through.

I also took some time out of my day to look fabulous by the water:

Speaking of fabulous, fellow MFer Stephanie won a makeover. Everyone, she looked STUNNING! She is super shy about it but for real, stunning. I wish I had better photos.

Also, you will be happy to know that Roseanne Barr and I made up:

And last but not least, I met Heir to Blair, who gave me her blessing to take over the McFatty Monday link up (which you can find below).

Y’all, she has the sweetest accent and she’s super nice in person. I’m genuinely glad that I had the chance to meet her in person.

I learned many things this weekend. Even though I faltered a little on the diet, I feel ok that I’ve made it this far without a huge free for all. I could have had a few less drinks but I made up for it in other places (taking stairs instead of escalators, walking instead of cabs, water, water, water, and more) so whatever the scale says tomorrow, I earned it, good or bad. What I do know is that Medifast makes it super easy to get right back on track and that is where I am today.

I also did a lot of soul searching on where I want to take this blog and my life. I met a lady on the plane that was very much into nutrition (Hi Laurel!) and she has really inspired me to do a lot more research about the foods I feed my family. I talked to so many people that were so impressed with my progress and I could see the hope in their eyes that they could pull this off too. Those people inspire me to work harder than ever to get and stay healthy.

And the greatest thing I learned this weekend? I can fit into a plane seat with much room on either side to spare. Gone are the days where I try to make my large body as small as possible so I am not crowding others.

I feel like there are other things I am forgetting to tell you. I’m so tired. But I will be posting more about my trip later this week.

To my friends at Medifast (and yes, for all you’ve done for me, in my head you are my friends) thank you. I wish you could fully express how this plan has changed my life and how the opportunity to go to BlogHer’11 is seriously one of the most amazing gifts I’ve ever received in my life. The words just don’t seem to be enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If you’re interested in trying Medifast, I have a great deal for you! Use the code TURNIP50 to get $50 off an order of $275.

*FTC Disclosure: Medifast provides their products for my personal use for free. I am not paid or compensated in any other way for mentioning their products. All thoughts written here are mine. I love complaining so I would tell you if I didn’t like something in the program.

We are going on a road trip in September. Our little family is piling into the Equinox and heading to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. So we had to take Izzy to apply for her first passport this week. Actually, it was our third attempt at getting the passport. I tried to apply on Friday. Silly me, it didn’t even dawn on me that I would need Christian to be there since his name is on Izzy’s birth certificate. Totally my fault. So we went back after C got off of work.

We came back well before the Post Office was due to close and the lovely agent we got says to me ‘Tsk. This takes too long. I gotta go on my lunch break. Someone else is gonna have to do this.’ Hands us the paperwork and walks away. God bless some of these postal workers and the way they make our lives so easy. It must be really daunting sitting at that little desk all day, weighing letters and stamping envelopes in the climate controlled post office. If I had a hard job like that, I’d be an asshole to perfectly polite customers all day too. This lady must be friends with my mail lady that leaves everyone’s mailboxes wide open on rainy days. I bet they sit around cackling over this kind of stuff while eating out of ‘lost’ packages from the Cheese of the Month Club.

As we finished filling out our form, we saw them turn off all the lights in the passport office – a full 45 minutes before the post office was due to close.

REALLY?

Since C was on the verge of ‘going postal’ we left and decided to come back on Monday. Finally we got a postal worker that was actually helpful. It was a rocky start, she gave us a lot of attitude until she found out the passport was for Izzy. I guess kids are her bread and butter because after that she was all smiles. We had a little difficulty getting Izzy’s photo because she wouldn’t look right at the camera. But the whole process took less than twenty minutes. Yes, that certainly is a long process. **eyeroll**

Izzy is very excited about her ‘special mail’ that she will get in a few weeks. For some reason she thinks the passport is a coloring book. Note to self: put passport on a really high shelf, away from the crayons.

P.S. Dear USPS: I know you know where I live. I will look forward to extra junk mail and lost birthday checks as retaliation for this post.

Just kidding That’s actually part of what I have been working on for BlogHer’11 and I will show you everything in another post.

Did you forget I was going? I haven’t talked about it too much on Twitter or here – but yes, I am going to BlogHer’11 in San Diego thanks to Medifast. So if you are going and want to know more about the plan or get a free sample, give me a shout and we’ll meet up. I am so proud to get the opportunity to represent this brand. So if you see me walking around don’t be shy! I am a talker. I will tell you about Medifast, my kid, my husband, the dog and cat, my quirks, my hobbies, things that I should get arrested for, everything.

You are probably asking ‘But how will I know who you are?‘.

Well, aren’t you in luck! I have a photo of me right here, snapped right after I got to One-derland last week. Feel free to make yourself an 8×10 glossy to keep in your wallet for reference. 😉

Oh wait, it gets better! I lost another three pounds this week. THREE! I think my body has finally decided that it likes this One-derland stuff and we are just chuggin’ along. I am down to 195lbs, that is one pound away from what I weighed when I got married in 2007. Time for more wedding dress photos! Even better, 195 is the blatant lie I used on my driver’s license. How many people can say they actually weigh what their driver’s license says?

Okay, let’s get serious for a moment. Last week you may recall that I have decided that I will begin going to OEA meetings. After discussing this with my dietician (Hi Jenn!) she informed me that Medifast has an addiction counselor on staff. I had no idea! Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush, I have a food addiction (duh, right?). I think about food a lot. I obsess over it a lot. I (used to) overeat a lot. I have a lot of anxiety about food. And while I feel that I have overcome a lot in the past five months, I know in my heart, that without some preventative maintenance, I will not overcome this in the long term. So I am going to begin utilizing the food addiction counseling through Medifast and see where it takes me. Honestly this move is in its infancy (as in I totally forgot to return Nick’s phone call to find out what this is all about). So once I have more info on this, I will fill you all in. And I will let you know how you, as a potential or current Medifaster can utilize this service.

But can I tell you how scary this is? I mean really, I could sit here and cry right now over it. In part, it’s fear because I will have to open up and talk about food related issues that I am not proud of. Admit to myself and someone else the things that make me abuse food and myself. On the other hand though, they would be tears of joy that I am making an attempt to let all of this go. Tears of pride that I am doing this for myself and my family. So for all the shame or embarrassment that I might have, it will be far overshadowed by the freedom this process will create. And of course I will continue to be open with all of you but I hope you will give me time or understand if I don’t tell you every gritty detail. After all, everyone is entitled to their privacy and there are other people in my life (that have played a role in this) that I have to think about as well.

In short, we’ll just see how this play out.

As for BlogHer – well, I am totally freaking out over that food situation. There will be A LOT of temptation. Most of it will be in the booze department. And since I will be there on my birthday, I plan on treating myself to a drink or two…or 20. I keeed! I keeeed! I’ve already asked my Medifast buddies, Jenni and Stephanie, to keep me in check. Plus I will burn some calorie with a 5k Fun Run on Friday morning (in which I will predict that I walk 90% of it) and on Saturday morning, y’all I get to work out with Bob from the Biggest Loser!!!! I’m just a little excited about that. I’m hoping to lose but will be thrilled to maintain while I am away.

San Diego, here I come! If you are gonna be there, I hope you will come find me!

If you’re interested in trying Medifast, I have a great deal for you! Use the code TURNIP50 to get $50 off an order of $275.

*FTC Disclosure: Medifast provides their products for my personal use for free. I am not paid or compensated in any other way for mentioning their products. All thoughts written here are mine. I love complaining so I would tell you if I didn’t like something in the program.